Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover
by Anonymuss
Summary: Helga is sent to cheerleading camp. . . but who else is going with her? And what will Arnold think? Sequel to Chunko's and Grey Days. Rated PG-13 because some kids use drugs. %%*CHAPTER 2 UP*%%
1. Chapter 1: Helga

CHAPTER 1 HELGA

This is the 3rd in the Grey Days series: Grey Days, Chunko's, and now Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover.

Oh man. Cheerleading camp. Why? Why did Olga have to sign me up for this? At least there was one good thing, Lila died. She committed suicide, which I thought was my fault at first, but then my shrink helped me know that it wasn't my fault. Go figure. So, Arnold, Gerald, and Phoebe went to camp Nasusmot, which I would have gone to as well, if this hadn't happened. They think I went to another normal camp, but actually I was less than 10 miles away from them. How's that for chance?

So anyway, I just got off the bus and picked up my luggage. I noticed that the people here a severe gender disparity, and that everyone was dressed in the same kind of clothes. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my baggy jeans and Led Zeppelin shirt. Oh well, not like this hasn't ever happened before. Only four weeks. That's right, only one month and I get to go home and continue being a lethargic couch potato watching wrestling and football all day. Only one month. . .

A girl and her "pack" interrupted my daydream. She stopped, put her hand on her hip and looked me over with a smirk.

"Hey, nice clothes." Her peanut gallery mechanically laughed, right on cue.

"Yeah, I think so too," I replied. "I really like your top as well. I think it would look even better with," I picked up some mud from the ground and smothered it all over her shirt, "mud. Didn't you hear? Brown is in. Especially the lumpy kind." I tried to hold in my amusement as I turned around to go to my cabin, but I didn't walk three steps until my smile cracked and became a roar of laughter.

"You laugh now, but wait until I tell a consoler!' She cried, mud still dripping on her UGG boots. Serves her right for wearing boots in the summer. Really for wearing UGG boots at all.

"Wuss," was all I said to her. I didn't really care if she told on me; if I was lucky they might kick me out of camp. While I walked away, I could hear the last of her friend's conversation.

"It's alright, Erica. She is gonna get it when you-know-who comes."

Since I knew they weren't talking about Harry Potter, I decided you- know-who couldn't be that bad. I trudged up to my cabin, with my luck the farthest one from main camp.

'Lone Pine' was the name of our cabin, and fitting considering it was in the middle of nowhere. I creaked opened the old screen door to see what will be my new home for the next month.

It wasn't very homey, I can tell you that, but it sure beats Big Bob's tirades and Merriam's worried, helpless mother routine. Just your regular, old-fashioned Lincoln log cabin. The wire-framed bunk beds completed the look.

I set my stuff in a top bunk , and started to make a letter to Arnold. I got out some paper, and sharpened a new pencil. I couldn't put what I really thought, or Arnold would know that I wasn't at a normal camp. He would know I was at a cheerleading camp. I chewed my eraser in hopes of getting a good lie. The letter ended up like this:

Dear Arnold,

I can't really tell you what camp is like, since I just got here, but I already feel like it's better than home. The cabin is nice and almost roomy, but I haven't made any friends yet. I think because of the events earlier I need to sharpen up on my people skills. Tell Sid and Phoebe I said hi, and that I'll be sending Sid a letter soon. Anyway, I just felt like writing to you, but there isn't anything left to write, so I guess that's it. Hope to see you soon, HELGA

I put the letter in an envelope, sealed it, and licked on a stamp. I would send it when I found out how. I was about to write a letter to Phoebe with basically the same story when I was interrupted by a booming voice.

"FUCK! DAMN ROCK!"

I casually walked outside to find a girl nursing a very bloody knee.

"Man, that looks awesome. It's gonna leave a sweet scar." I told the girl. I expected her to cry. Turned out she was more worried about me than her knee.

"You must have had some sad, deranged childhood." She then looked at me, puzzled. "Aren't you gunna turn me in for swearing?"

"Nah. You should have heard my act when I found out I was going to this dump." I said. "Here we are, chattin' away and I don't even know your name. Mine's Helga," I stuck out my hand.

The girl looked me over for a couple seconds, then smiled and shook my hand. "I'm Kyra. Hey, you haven't been here before, have you?"

"Nope, and I hope I never come here ever again. My stupid parental units made me come. They think I'm 'un-cooranated' and 'antisocial'."

"I hear you," she stood up and brushed off her knees. "I have to do it, too. Parents signed me up for soccer gym last summer, you know, the exercise thing and all, but it was all filled up. So they signed me up for cheerleading. I kept on saying how much I liked it so they wouldn't worry, but they took it too seriously. This was my 'Christmas present'. Lemme just tell you something, if I ever get my hands on that Santa. . ." She made a motion with her hands as if to strangle something. "Anyway, there isn't anybody here to hold a decent conversation with."

"Oh yeah," I replied solemnly with pity. "At least I get to write to someone. It must drive you insane not to have anyone to talk to."

"I said that there was nobody to hold a decent conversation with, not that I was lonely," she looked at my confused face, "C'mon. I'll show you." She looked in both directions, then led me though a winding path in the woods. The path was covered in cedar woodchips about a foot or two across. It was really quite nice, like those nature walks you take on field trips. We then went away from the path and stopped in front of a girl sitting next to a tree, in front of a meadow.

"Hey Christina," Kyra said.

"Whoa, Kyra! You sooooo scared me. I was just playing with the squirrel in the tree, but he will just not let me catch him. Squirrely," She turned her attention to a squirrel perched high in a tree to her left. "Why do you run away? How am I supposed to pet make you. Haha, I mean make you my pet." With that she spun around twice, and then passed out on the grass.

"She's drunk," I said plainly.

"Naw, Helga. She's just having fun dancing around the tree with all the little woodland creatures," Kyra said sardonically. "To be fair, she isn't usually drunk. She usually gets high, but the counselors must have been outta weed. She goes to the consoler's cabin and searches through their stuff to find things."

"Don't the consolers report it missing?" I asked.

"Hah. Yeah, a consoler is just gunna tell the director of the camp that, 'uh-huh, a kid stole my weed man!' Fat chance."

We then came back out of the woods by the cafeteria for lunch. I was just about to turn the corner for the front of the building when Kyra pulled me back and put her finger over her lips for quiet. I soon heard two girls chattering on the other side of the building.

"So, Amy, did ya hear? That stupid bratty girl is back. I was hoping she wouldn't sign up this year."

"Yeah," the girl named Amy said, "sucks to be us. Her and her little 'group' will probably get all the good guys for the dance again."

"Uh-huh. They're bitches. But, did you hear that she's been talking about this one certain guy 24/7. Ardo or Argett or something."

"Well, I'm hungry. Let's go, Emily."

With that I heard the doors open and shut.

"Who were they?" I asked Kyra.

"Emily and Amy. They know everything that goes on at camp, but don't really care where they discuss. Never tell those girls secrets that you want to keep secret." Kyra answered.

"Who was that one girl they were talking about?"

"Geez, you ask a hell of a lot of questions. The girl's name is Leah or Lelah. Whatever, I'm hungry. Let's eat."


	2. Chapter 2: Arnold

CHAPTER 2

ARNOLD

Disclaimer: I still don't own Hey Arnold. Schuks.

Sid, Phoebe and I got off the bus to camp Nasusmot. Finally. It's a long ride from New York to the Midwest, geez. We were all weary from the ride, stumbling out of the bus to get our bags. I hurried and dug through the piles of luggage to find my suitcase. We then walked zombified to our cabins. I was rooming with Sid because Gerald couldn't come. . . his parents signed him up for science camp. At least he promised to send me letters. I don't know what I'm going to do here without him. . . I guess spend more time with Sid. But there is no substitute for your best friend.

Sid and I trudged up the dirt path to find our cabin. Plath. What kind of a name is Plath anyway? What am I going to do, die of boredom from a Bell Jar? I just hope that Helga is having a good time at her camp, too. She forgot to tell me why she went to a different camp this year. I don't even know what camp she went to. Note to self: ask Helga what camp she's at.

We walked into our cabin and I threw my duffel bag on the top of a bunk bed, while Sid put his on the bottom. We then made the long trek to main camp to meet Phoebe. If I thought I would be lonely not having Gerald, I can only imagine how Phoebe must feel. She doesn't have anyone to room with, so she doesn't knows anybody in her cabin. At least I have Sid. We gave her our word that we would spend as much time as possible at main camp. We walked to the picnic tables in front of the snack bar and waited until we saw a familiar face in blue-framed glasses.

"Hey, Phoebe. How's your cabin?" I asked her.

"Oh, it's okay I guess," she replied. "I haven't met any of the other kids. . . when Helga was here we usually made fun of them and did our own thing."

"Well," Sid said, "You can always make a new friend."

"Unlikely," Phoebe replied matter-of-factly. "Helga and I have been going here since the 4th grade, and we have only met one girl who was actually worth talking to. All the rest of them are either too introverted, think too much on how they look, or are dissing the cheerleader camp because they stole all the boys at the combined dance."

"Wait, Helga never made fun of the cheerleading camp?" Sid asked, amazed. "No way."

"Oh, yes Helga made fun of them a lot, too. Just not because they took a lot of the guys from this camp as their dates."

"Phew. I actually had a thought across my mind there for a second that Helga didn't hate cheerleaders. I thought I was going crazy."

"Yeah. Well what do you want to do?" I asked everyone.

"Hey, Arnold." Someone said from behind me. I turned around to see my old buddy from camp, Anton.

"Hey to you too, Anton. I thought you weren't coming this session."

"Me, too," was all he said. He doesn't like to get too personal about things. "So. . . who are they?" He asked, straight to the point.

"These are my friends, Phoebe and Sid."

"Where's Gerald?" He said.

"He couldn't make it."

"That sucks. Well, I'm going to meet someone at the ice cream station. Feel free to join me. " With that he left for the snack bar. Anton was a mysterious fellow…there was something I just couldn't put my finger on.

"So. . . what do you want to do? Swim? Eat ice cream? Do nothing all day?"

"I'm for the eating," Sid replied, eagerly patting his stomach in anticipation.

"Well, I thought that we might like to take a walk in the woods. It is a very nice day, after all." Phoebe, said.

"That sounds nice," I answered. "Maybe after we can eat, Sid." He looked saddened, but came on our hike through the woods.

"Hey, isn't this the way to the girls cabins?" Sid asked. "What if someone sees us? I can't risk getting in trouble _this_ early in the year. I need to save up my bad habits so I don't get kicked out."

"You can't get in trouble. If we take this way I can just say we are going to the gym," she looked into the woods, squinted and stopped, deer in the headlights.

"What's the matter, Phoebe," I asked her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she answered. "Let's just go."

We walked through the woods, which I had to admit, was pretty beautiful. It was peaceful. So quiet. So tranqui-

Phoebe dove into the bushes next to us.

"What are you doing?" Sid asked her.

"Shh!" Was all she had time to say. A guy walked up to us.

"So. . . do you guys have some sort of thing with talking to bushes or something? Are you like the bush whisperer?" He asked, puzzled.

"No, well, you see-"

"I SAW A SQUIRREL!" Sid blurted.

"Uh-huh. A squirrel. Well, whatever your up to, I'll let it go now. The name's Brek. Brek Anderson. And you are. . . ?" He looked at us for a response.

"Oh, well. . .I'm Rob Smith and this is Jon. . . uh, Jon Mc. . . Patterson. Jon McPatterson." Sid lied.

"Whatever, see you Rob. Jon." He left with a wave. Phoebe poked out of the bushes.

"Is he gone?" She asked. We nodded and she came out, covered with leaves.

"Why did you hide from him? He seemed like a nice guy," I said.

"Oh, uh. . . he was mean to me last year. I just didn't want to talk to him. And you shouldn't either!," She quickly changed subjects. I cut her some slack and let it go, "Well, shall we continue our walk?"

"Let's just go get some ice cream," I said.

"Actually, Arnold, I'm feeling sort of drowsy. I'm going to take a nap in my cabin. Maybe we can eat after dinner?"

Phoebe looked like she could use a nap, so Sid and I left for our cabin. When we got there, we were both so tired from the long trek, that we just laid down on our beds, and didn't move until we heard my name.

"Arnold? Is Arnold here?" A guy, probably mid-twentys came up with a letter in hand.

"I'm Arnold," I said, too tired to get up.

"Oh. I've got a letter for you. From a Helga Patacki. Here you are," he handed me the letter.

"Thanks," I said, and he left. I opened the letter, and was happy to hear things were going so well for Helga at her new camp. I finished the letter, and wrote her one.

Dear Helga,

Great to hear that camp's going so well. Well, Gerald couldn't make it, but Anton came again, and Sid and I already made a new friend. His name is Brek. I'll send you more in my next letter, but I have to get ready to leave for camp. Dinner is soon. Well, tell me all about your camp and what you do there. I'm really interested. Well, can't wait to see you when we both get back!

From, ARNOLD

I folded the letter, sealed the envelope, and sent it off to Helga's return address. Hmm, her camp must be somewhere close, it's in the same area code. I was just finished putting Helga's letter in the mailbox when I heard a familiar voice cry, "Arnold!"

I spun around and realized just how problematic this summer would become.


End file.
